I had forgotten we actually owned this game until the wife
pulled it out this weekend. Trivial Pursuit Bet You Know It isn’t a game we
play all that often. I’m a little on the fence about this particular game.
Personally while I do enjoy trivia I find I’m not that hooked on trivia games
in general. This edition of trivial pursuit does have strengths going for it
but it does have some weaknesses. Overall while I'm not the biggest fan of this game I do still have fun playing it and I think it is better than most other trivia games.
The game works basically like any other Trivial Pursuit, roll
a die to determine which categories you can move to, answer questions to
collect wedges of all 6 colours (categories). Answer one final question for the
win.
The first thing I really like about this edition is that
there is a card keeper. 4 cards are placed in the keeper with only their topic
showing, for example poisons, or Harry Potter, or kids in the hall etc. Players
select the card they wish to answer on their turn. I find that this gives
players more control of their game experience and is more interesting than the
old usual trivia game mechanic of answer whatever card is next. I find with
other trivia games that players can hit a rut of cards outside their scope of
knowledge and that they end up falling
behind. It can get frustrating. The card selection also adds a bit of strategy
in that selecting the right topic for the right category can be vital to
getting wedges. Also selecting cards in order to prevent other players from
getting their easiest categories can be important too. This gives players more
control and influence on their game experience making for a more solid game.
The flow works well because each player answers a single
question then play proceeds clockwise. I’ve encountered a few trivia games
where players answer until they get a question wrong. That is toxic for game
night when one player or team dominates the actual play while the remainder are sidelined until an error occurs. I wish more trivia
games followed the single question format.
The “Bet You Know It” aspect of the game is where I really don’t
know how I feel about it. The point of it is to accrue tokens. These tokens can
be spent at the end of the game to purchase the right to choose the topic and category
for the last question (if you can’t afford it the other players choose for you.)
But, the whole betting on your friends knowing or not knowing something seems crass.
It can get demoralizing when everyone dumps huge stacks on “wrong” when your
chance to answer a sports question on soccer comes up. Even more so when
everyone laughs while sweeping up huge piles of winnings, jerks. Of course it
can also be gratifying to get the answer right and rake in the chips like my
niece did. I have to admit that the gambling aspect is great for keeping
everyone involved and paying attention during every players turn. It is also a
great motivator to get to know your other players knowledge base better. What you really gamble on is whether this element will introduce fun and quirky banter or if it will bring down friendships in bitter ego mutilating grudge bets. I guess it all comes down to player personalities.
Players can also spend the chips to buy wedges. This really
helps move the game forward for players who really aren’t strong in a category.
I find that this can bring the game towards the conclusion efficiently. Although
I was surprised that people didn’t purchase wedges as often in the game. I
think that it’s partially because players do want to prove themselves (even
though having loads of chips proves you know the other players well) but I
think it is more so people could save for the last question costs.
The game does suffer a bit from some proof reading issues.
We found cards that really didn’t match up with category or topic. One example
was the entertainment question: “What animal was first used in experiments on
blood transfusions?” That is not an entertainment question, especially in a
game with a science category. This was too far from an isolated incident as there were a
few questions that really didn’t fit either the topic or category listed in any
way. It was frustrating, it hurt the flow of the game and took players out of
the fun.
I would recommend Trivial Pursuit Bet You Know It for groups
who are really into trivia games but who are also willing to put themselves
through the harsh reality of discovering how much, or how little, faith the
other players have in your knowledge. It can be fun for trivia buffs and it
does work better than most trivia games I’ve encountered but it also suffers
from some issues with improper categorization of questions.
